


Magic Trick

by stardustbytes



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Feel-good, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-05 04:26:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20482841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustbytes/pseuds/stardustbytes
Summary: Perceptor and Brainstorm go on a "geological survey."





	Magic Trick

**Author's Note:**

> This was my contribution to the Snapshots TF zine. I'm excited to finally post it! It was such a wonderful project; a dream to work on and a beautiful book came out of it.

The first day the  _ Lost Light _ had taken for shore leave in what felt like ages, and Perceptor had been keen to drag Brainstorm planetside and into a cave for some samples he had  _ insisted _ Rodimus stop and let them collect. They had nearly passed through the entire cavern system to the other side of the alien clifface by the time Brainstorm spoke up. “Hey — Perce?” He flexed his wings to squeeze through a narrower passage.

“Yes?” Perceptor didn’t look back at him.

“This is, well… rather deep in the mountain for just a sample of crystal formations, isn’t it?” 

The path eventually opened into a cavern that dwarfed both of their frames. The geological formations of this planet truly were astonishing. That they weren’t his primary field of interest didn’t make him appreciate them any less. Brainstorm was simply — distracted, since Perceptor declined to answer him at first. Perceptor didn’t usually  _ partially _ ignore him, he either totally ignored him or gave prompt answers.

“Perceptor?”

His partner — the thought always made Brainstorm’s spark flutter with the memory of their official engagement — turned towards him finally. There was enough light to see without the need for any additional optical overlays, but it was a peculiar light made of their biolights, the soft lanterns attached by magnets to their frames, and a low bioluminescence emanating from scarce patches of alien flora in the cavern. The crystals they were here for were numerous in this cave, and added to the dreamlike quality of the setting with their refractions and reflections giving everything a soft, hazy edge.

Perceptor smiled. Even illuminated in this unusual manner, he was gorgeous. Brainstorm smiled back by reflex, even though his own face was still covered. It showed well enough in his field, which flitted across their plating with notes of bright warmth.

“My apologies,” he finally said. “I only wanted to ensure that we are alone.”

Brainstorm let out a snort of a laugh. “We’re in the heart of a mountain on a geological curiosity of a planet with the  _ Lost Light _ in orbit above us. I think you’ve made sure of it.” Perceptor only tilted his helm, so Brainstorm shrugged. “Did you get the samples when I wasn’t looking, then?”

“Sorry?”

Now Brainstorm tilted his helm, mirroring Perceptor. “The samples? The reason we came down here in the first place?” His query was met with a long, quiet pause.

Silence in a cave, Brainstorm found, was immensely different than silence on a starship. What little background noise there was seemed both scant and alien. Fortunately for him, it didn’t last long before Perceptor filled it with laughter. A bewildered smile crossed his lips as he watched the other mech, shoulders slightly hunched, one hand covering his mouth as though Perceptor were afraid of disturbing the flora dotting the walls. 

Curiosity burned in his core, but he indulged in the moment for as long as he could; Brainstorm had known for too long that he was  _ quite _ taken with Perceptor and had devoted much of their time together to soaking in everything he could about the mech, but… he never tired of Perceptor’s laughter. It wasn’t as rare as it had once been, but to Brainstorm it was no less precious.

And yet he was Brainstorm and therefore couldn’t stay silent for long. “What’s so funny?” 

Perceptor straightened, his optics still flashing with mirth as he drew his hand away from his lips. “Collecting crystal samples to run tests for alternative energy resources was just what I told Rodimus to get him to let us off here,” he said. 

Brainstorm frowned. “What?”

With a nearly  _ wicked _ glint in his optics that Brainstorm hardly believed, Perceptor smiled widely at him. “Surely you know that if you pepper enough three-or-more syllable words per sentence that Rodimus mentally checks out and will essentially let you do whatever you want?”

“Who doesn’t know that?” The jet waved a hand dismissively. “So then, what  _ are _ we here for?”

Perceptor reached up to grasp Brainstorm’s hand and pulled him close. “For  _ this _ .” He wrapped both of his arms around Brainstorm’s, who again felt the pulse of his spark quicken. Eventually they shifted so that Brainstorm could wrap his arms around his partner in a full embrace.

With Perceptor warm and close, their EM fields making a sinuous dance before settling in sync, and the memory of his laughter in Brainstorm’s audios — this silence felt quite different than before, too. This silence even Brainstorm could leave undisturbed.

Still, after a long moment Brainstorm let out a soft chuckle against Perceptor’s shoulder. A question bloomed through Perceptor’s field, dancing along his own, and Brainstorm lifted his helm. “It’s just — if you wanted a date, you could have  _ said _ so.”

“Well… I thought you would have figured it out.  _ Simpatico _ and all of that,” Perceptor said slyly.

Brainstorm threw his wings wide, mock-scandalized. Or just scandalized. “Well now! Usually you’re much more direct!”

Perceptor shook his helm. “I suppose. But I also became stir-crazy. I do enjoy everything the  _ Lost Light _ has to offer, and the exploratory aim of our journeying, and — most especially — all of the time between me and you. Yet…”

Brainstorm tilted his helm. “It became routine?” His partner nodded, and Brainstorm made the ‘fingergun’ motion they were both too familiar with by now.  _ Simpatico. _ Perceptor smiled at the sight of it. “Well,” Brainstorm continued, “Next time you give Rodimus the ol’ science-magic talk, I’ll read between the lines.”

Perceptor squeezed his hands again. “Or I will be more direct.”

Brainstorm just shrugged. Either way. They had been good at making things work thus far. “I do have one more question, though.” 

“Yes?”

Brainstorm grinned, the flare of his optics giving the expression away. “Can we still sample the crystals and see what they’ll do with nucleon rods or quantum generators?”

Whatever Perceptor expected, that certainly wasn’t it — he let out a surprised laugh. “Of course,” he replied. “We should bring something back to show Rodimus a magic trick, shouldn’t we?”

Clearly delighted, Brainstorm pulled Perceptor along with him to an outcropping of the crystals he had been eyeing. And despite the countless spans between their spot below the mountains and their home floating far above, there was no place either of them would rather be.


End file.
